


Small

by avianscribe



Series: Collection of Prompts [6]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Mini, Status Effects
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:54:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24632635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avianscribe/pseuds/avianscribe
Summary: After a battle, Gladio has to deal with a status effect, and everyone else has to deal with Gladio...
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia & Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia
Series: Collection of Prompts [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1432558
Comments: 20
Kudos: 60





	Small

**Author's Note:**

  * For [snailsman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/snailsman/gifts).



> In response to Tumblr user @snailsman's prompt, "Small", for my June 2020 Birth Month Writing Prompts celebration!

The cave was close quarters and the daemons were stupid tough, and one of them was spraying a weird orange vapor that all of them knew would probably cause some weird reaction that they wanted to avoid at all costs, so they did. As well as they could, anyway.

It took longer to get rid of them than it should have. When the dust finally cleared, Gladio was nowhere to be seen -- which was quite a feat, because he was so big. Usually nothing could hide Gladio, or his giant sword. 

So while Ignis administered a potion to Prompto, Noctis explored the far end of the cave, where he’d last heard Gladio’s grunting battle noises. He thought the last sound he’d heard Gladio make was some weird strangled noise, and… that probably wasn’t a good sign.

The dust hadn’t quite settled in this corner, and Noctis coughed and waved a hand to clear it away from his face. “Gladio?” he called. 

“You don’t think he fell down a hole, or something?” Prompto said. 

“Sure hope not,” Noctis answered.

“I think we would have heard something,” Ignis said, but his voice was strained with worry. 

Gladio had last been swinging a sword at the daemons in a far corner of the cave, so that’s where Noctis started. There were prints in the dust in the bottom of the cave -- shuffles and scuffs, but Gladio was the one with the training to read them. “Gladio?” Noctis yelled again --

Then he felt something hit his shoe. He looked down.

There, six inches tall and glaring up at Noctis -- looking as pissed as he’d ever been in his life -- was Gladio. He leaned against the side of Noct’s boot on one hand, and had his other fist cocked to hit it again. 

“Gladio??” Noctis shrieked -- 

And then Gladio’s shoulders hitched up and he clapped his hands over his ears. 

Noctis dropped to his hands and knees. “Sorry…!” he whispered. “What happened to _you?”_

“Didja find him?” Prompto called. 

“You could say that,” Noctis said, trying to keep his voice quiet. Then, whispering again, he said, “Can I pick you up?” 

Gladio looked like he was trying to say something, but Noctis could barely hear a squeaking noise. 

“Sorry, man, I can’t hear what you’re saying,” Noctis said. He set his hand down palm-up in front of Gladio, and his now-mini Shield climbed on. Noctis cupped his hand around him and stood carefully trying not to jostle Gladio in the process. He felt Gladio grab onto his thumb to stabilize himself.

Then he walked back to their other companions, with Gladio cradled against his chest. 

“So where is he?” Prompto said. Ignis was wrapping a bandage around his bicep, where the potion hadn’t quite fixed everything. Prompto’s eyes were pinched with pain, but he still looked cheerful. 

Noctis didn’t say anything; he just raised his hand, where Gladio crouched, clinging to his thumb. 

Prompto squinted. “What’re-- wait.” His eyes ballooned open. “Whaaaaat!!”

Gladio dropped to his knees, palms pressed to his ears. 

“Shhh!” Noctis hissed. “Not so loud!” 

“I suspect,” Ignis said softly, “that his size makes him more sensitive to soundwaves.” 

Gladio shouted something that sounded like squeaks -- and Prompto’s face went red. “Aaaaaw!” he whispered. “That is… so precious!” 

“Watch it,” Noctis said. “I think he’s likely to hold anything you say against you and take it out on you when he’s back to normal.” 

Gladio made a rude gesture that left Prompto sputtering. Noctis coughed to hide his laugh.

“So whaddya think happened?” Prompto asked.

Ignis pushed his glasses up. “I’ve read some reports of a kind of status ailment -- somewhat like toad, it seems -- that shrinks the victim. I do believe the report I read called it ‘mini’ -- but it was more of a legend than anything else. I’ll have to consult with Cor and see if he or the hunters have heard of anything like this. In the meantime… we’ll have to apply a remedy and see if it is effective.”

“Okay,” said Noctis. “Let’s get it over with.” He knelt to set Gladio back down on the ground. There was no way he wanted to be holding him when the remedy went into effect.

“Wait,” Ignis said. “We don’t have any on hand. You’d better keep hold of him.”

Noctis froze. “What?” 

“Think he’ll fit in your pocket?” Prompto said. 

Noctis glared at him -- and when he looked down, Gladio was glaring, too. 

“He clearly won’t be able to protect himself,” Ignis said. “And he certainly won’t be able to keep up with us on foot. Someone will have to carry him.” 

“I’ll do it!” Prompto said cheerfully. “It’ll be just like having, like, a hamster in my pocket! I’ve always wanted to--!”

Gladio raised his arms and made a big X with them. 

“Looks like you’ve been outvoted,” Noctis said. 

“I would be willing, Gladio,” Ignis said. 

“No way, Ignis,” Noctis said. “If we run into anything and you start pole-vaulting everywhere, we’ll lose him in two seconds. He’d fall right out of your pocket.”

Igniss’s mouth straightened into a thin line. “And your warping is any different?” he said, and his voice had a cool sharpness to it that rippled up Noct’s spine like a warning.

Prompto glanced nervously between the two of them. “Um…” he said. 

“What?” Noctis and Ignis said at the same time. 

“You think we’d better…” and Prompto pointed. “... follow him?”

Noctis followed Prompto’s finger to see Gladio, on the ground and dashing away. 

Noctis scrambled to his feet. “What? How’d he--” 

“He jumped down. I thought for sure you’d notice, but then you guys--”

“Come on,” Ignis said. “Better not let him get lost.”

They caught up with Gladio in five steps -- but Gladio dodged when Noctis went to reach for him. 

“Hey!” Noctis said. “What’re you--” 

Gladio gestured, then rummaged in his pocket and pulled out… was that his _phone?_ It was tiny! Gladio jabbed at it with his thumb, and Noct’s phone pinged. He pulled it out and tried to ignore Ignis, peering over his shoulder.

 **Gladio [2:30PM] >>** no way i’m hitchhiking in someone’s stinkyass pocket 

Noctis stared. 

“We’ve gotta get you out of here somehow,” Noctis said. “It’ll be faster if--”

His phone pinged again. 

**Gladio [2:31PM] >> ** hell no  
**Gladio [2:31PM] >> **getting out of here on my own two feet

Noctis met Ignis’s eye and they both sighed.

* * *

“No. Freaking. Way,” Iris said, wide-eyed over her chocolate malt. 

“Way,” Prompto said with a laugh. “It took us a full two DAYS to get out of there.”

Gladio, full-size again and grumpy, folded his arms and leaned against the back of the booth bench. He scowled at all of them, but everyone else chuckled; even Ignis.

“Come now, Gladio,” he said. “Surely you see the humor in the situation, too.” 

“See humor?” Gladio snorted. “The _one time_ you don’t have a remedy on you and it’s the time I end up needing one?” 

“Coulda solved it by letting us carry you,” Noctis grumbled.

“No way,” Gladio snapped. “I’m not some kind of-- of _hamster!”_

“Hamster?” Iris squealed. 

“Look,” Prompto said, “I only said I--”

“I _know_ what you said,” Gladio groused. “Well, there’s no way I was gonna be your substitute hamster.”

Noctis swallowed his swig of milkshake. “I could have--” 

“And I already told _you,”_ Gladio cut in, and jabbed a finger at Noctis, “that I _know_ what’s been in your pockets and there’s _no way--”_

“Gentlemen, please,” Ignis said. “Gladio, even you must acknowledge that if you’d allowed us to help, you would have avoided a lot of trouble -- for yourself _and_ for the rest of us.”

“I would have been _fine_ if I could have…” Gladio trailed off. 

“Could have what?” Iris asked. “Huh?” She elbowed Gladio in the side.

Gladio just scowled. 

“Could have _whaaaaat?”_ Iris entreated, looking between all of them. 

Noctis wasn’t going to say a _word_ because he knew Gladio would pulverize him the next time they sparred. 

Prompto apparently had no fear, and ignored Noct’s hissed warning. 

“Well you see… the first group of goblins we ran into, he summoned a sword -- but not the one that was on him when he got mini-fied. The sword he pulled out was still full size and almost cru--”

“I’m gonna crush _YOU,”_ Gladio growled, and in a movement too swift to track, he shot out of his seat, got Prompto in a headlock, and knuckled his scalp.

Prompto struggled weakly in Gladio’s grip, shrieking “Not the hair! Not the hair!”

“Well well well,” Iris chirped. “Who’d’a thought it! You finally got to be the smallest of the bunch!” 

Gladio released Prompto and took his seat again, looking only slightly less irritated. “Yeah,” he said, “and no one’s gonna let me live it down.”

“We will,” Noctis said. “Eventually! Sometime!”

“Yeah,” Prompto said. “Like how you finally let me live down my new hairstyle and how much it looks like a chocobo! In other words, NEVER!”

Gladio scowled again, but the rest of them laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> FFXV doesn't have the 'mini' status effect, even though it has 'frog', which is the more ridiculous of the two, to be honest...


End file.
